Adjustable shaft-support.



PATENTED FEB. 26, 1907.

J. H. BULLARD. ADJUSTABLE SHAFT SUPPORT.

APPLIOATIONfILED MAR.15 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrrcn JAMES H. BULLARD, OF SPRINGFIELD. MASSACHUSETTS.

ADJUSTABLE SHAFT-SUPPORT.

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Janus H. BULLARD, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in' Adjustable Shaft-Supports, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention has for its object the construction of a universally-adjustable fixture adapted to be secured to the steering knuckle of self-pro'iclled vehicles to support the end of a flGXllJI O shaft to which a pinion is secured which engages with a gear on the hub of a vehicle-wheel to actuate devices which serve to indicate the distance traveled,

1 the circumference of the wheel serving as a or the pinion which meshes with it, and it is. always the pinion which is changed, of course.-

unit of measure;

Afurthcr object of the invention is to rovide a construction of this character al of the parts of which can be cast and assembled without being machined, thereby greatly reducin the cost thereof.

" The diameter of the wheels varies on vehicles of different-size and which are used for difi'erent purposes, and this necessitates a change in the diameter of a gear on the hub 'This'therefore necessitates a fixture which the pinion and its drivin *-shaft are supportedwhich will so locate t e pinion as to persteering-knuckle generally used on self-promit its operative engagement with the gear.

Heretofore it has been the practice to make fixtures which either have no adjusts bility or whose range of adjnstability is very limited, thereby necessitating the manufacture of a large variety of these gear-supportmeans of this invention a construction is provided which is universally adjustable and may be used'with any combination of gears found on the ordinary road-vehicles, its rangev of adjustability being so great as to not onlyprovide for the widest variation in the gears but also to provide for the widest variation in the location of that part of the pelled vehicles to which thefixture must be attached in order to have it swing with the wheel.

Obviously this device is art-icularly adapted to use on self propelled road-vehicles, although it may be otherwise, and in the draw- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 15,1906. 'Serial No. 306.101.

Patented leb. 26,1907. 1

ings it has been shown as applied of a vehicle of the class described.

In the drawings forming part of this application, Figure 1 is an elevation of the device looked at from one side; and Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, of the device viewed in a plane at right angles'to Fig. 1; In both views it is shown in its relation to the arm of the steering-knuckle to which it is attached. Fig. 3 is a pers ective view of a. part of the hub of a whee and the steeri nuckle, showing the improved adjustab e gear-supporting fixture applied thereto.

Referring to the drawin s, a indicatess steering knuckle as a w ole on which a wheel 0 is mounted in the usual manner, the steering-knuckle being provided with the arms a and d, to which rods formin part of the steering mechanism of the vehic e are secured. These arms being integral parts of the steering-knuckle swing with the latter and the wheel. On the hub of the wheel is secured a gear c, with which a pinion f meshes,

this pinion being supported in operative relation to the gear 6 on the fixture which forms the subject-matter of this application. This fixture comprises a clamp which consists of two like parts it, in the lower central portion recess 7c, adapted to be clamped over the sphericalend m or" a post 0 by means of a bolt 19 or the like two parts of t e clam The if per ends of the two parts of the 0 amp are aterally extended and have their extremities q formed to partially encircle a sleeve 2, which constitutes a bearing for a flexible shaft 8, which is which secured to the pinion f. The bolt clamps the socketed portions 7c to tlie'top of the post 0, serves at the same time to clamp the sleeve r. These socketed portions are so' proportioned as to inclose a little more than one-half of the sphere m, to the endthat the parts of the clamp may be loosened to permit the adjustrnent thereof in any di rection without permitting its removal from the post. The lower end of the latter is also spherical, as indicated by t, and of larger diameter than the opposite end, this end thaving a bearing in a cap 1), having a spherical cavity in the upper 'end thereof, as shown very plainly in Figs. 1 and 2. The up er end of the cap has a hole through it, t 'ough which the post 0 may be passed, as shown.

of each of which is formed a semispherical assing through a hole in the.

A. blocli w is inserted in the lower end of the cap and has a seat formed in the upper end thereof for the larger spherical end i f the i through the nut, the end of the bolt -l ehring against the arm a. The screw has no threaded engagement with the yoke, the latter hein constructwl as described and provided with the nut .3 to do away with the necessity of tapping the hole in the. yoke. it is obvi ous that by screwin up the bolt tithe eap n will be drawn down against the arm 0, and thus force the block 1/) upward, clamping the spherical end i of the post 0 tightly in the wap and holding the latter in any adjusted position. By slightly loosening the bolt the post 0 may be adjusted in direction relative to the arm 0, and it n'iay he rotated on its ownaxis to any degree. The clamp on the upper end of the poet inay' also be adjusted relative to the latter in any direction.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, r l 1. in an adjustable fixture of the class describedconsisting of a post terminating in hall-bearings at its opposite ends, clamps enaging the hall -br iarin,9; at its outer end, a earing-cap engaging the hall-hearing at its inner end, a block, a yoke, means for conscrihed comprising a rigid in spherical nds, a two-part c the outer sp erical end a for a llGXlbiB shaft, a Gore; retaining the clamp in pl with hooks engag t a block located cap anu gaging the inner spherical end, and a support, a yoke provided with l'lOOlCU a" gaging the opposite side of the i'ixed fi lll lpfll links engapdngthe hooks for: connecting; the cap and yoke together, a holt t1 through the yoke and engaging; the the fixed support opposite the hloclz, n'llereby when the bolt is rotated the cap and yolaie will move in opposite direct" he block forced against the end l. and the inner spherical end ele the cap, as described. to

3. in an improvement of the Class de scribed, comprising a rigid member :neinher having a splr. cal end, clamping the r giduneniher to a fwd sup-- port, g-onip 21g a cap, a hloclc, a yer eonmt-cting the cap and. hloelz, the yol-Le a block engaging opposite sides oi the liz d support, and means for lllOVlllf the t block in opposite (lirecti spherical end is rigidly chunpet 

